Which is best Owasso or Claremore? (Tulsa, Broken Arrow: big house, established neighborhood, high school)

[Tulsabound]

My family will be relocating to the Tulsa area early next month. We are trying to decide where we want to live. We have 2 boys 11 and 16yo, so schools are very important to us. I stay home so the home is very important also. We have made one trip to the area and at the time were only considering Owasso. We did not look at the Claremore area. We have done alot of online looking for houses. Owasso does not seem to have many of the older established neighborhoods with trees that we are so used to here in Southern Arkansas. We have seemed to find more of what we like in the Claremore area. Owasso seems to have more of the cookie cutter neighborhoods with very small lots. We are currently living on a one acre lot with many pines and a variety of hardwoods. We also have a neighborhood lake in our back yard, the view is beautiful year round. We also have privacy woods all on one side. I know we will probably not find this there and am so sad about leaving home. Does anyone know about Claremore the town and the schools? Are there any other areas we should be considering? We have friends in Owasso so we pretty much have the scoop on it. Thanks so much.

[Manhattan-ite]

Tulsabound,

You seem to know where you're going. My family lives in Owasso and I do agree with you- it's all cookie-cutter suburban land with big houses and big malls. My parents-in-law have a big house by the Owasso Expressway and they're going to sell to a mall developer and get out of there.

Claremore has an old interesting downtown that Owasso does not; Owasso is growing huge an Claremore isn't as much. But then both towns are so close to each other that they almost feel like a continuation of each other. If you go on Highway 20 from Claremore to Owasso, you'll see that tract-housing and subdivisions are going up everywhere along the road, close to Claremore and specially close to the Owasso city limits.

Claremore's population has grown 9% in the last six years, acording to City-Data statistics, while Owasso counts a whopping 34% increase.

I don't know Claremore as well, but I would say that unless you live near downtown, you'll probably end having the same-old cookie-cutter suburban house that is springing up all over the area and beyond.

[jeffncandace]

Ew! Stay away from the cookie-cutter subs. That's all we had in California and now we LOVE the character and charm found in older neighborhoods. I used to live in Tulsa's Midtown area and loved it.

[Tulsa73]

Have you considered Broken Arrow? They have a great school system. The city is currently revitalizing old downtown. There's a new PAC currently being built in old downtown, PLUS they just built the new Bass Pro Shop. There are a lot of new restaurants and new shoping areas opening.
If you are wanting to find an established neighborhood with trees, I would check it out. If you haven't made a decision yet, it's worth a look.
There are lots of established neighborhoods as well as new. StoneWood Hills area is nice and isn't your typical cookie cutter addition. It's really close to the new Bass Pro and all the new restaurants and RIGHT off the highway. So convenient!! (65th area and Lynn Lane and also 65th and Elm off of HW51) There are three really nice golf course neighborhoods with lots of appeal. Forest Ridge, Battle Creek and Indian Springs are all nice areas. There are lots of different price ranges and styles. There are TONS of trees in the Indian Springs area, but it's south Broken Arrow. With you looking in Owasso or Claremore, you will probably want to stay north towards Battle Creek, which is still very nice also.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

I'm not trying to "sell" a neighborhood. I don't even live in BA...I live in Tulsa. I just really like the BA area.

[SashaBlue]

The Jenks area is great, too. But I agree, BA is the place to be.

[Tulsabound]

Thanks everyone for your information. The Broken Arrow area is really nice. The one thing that concerns me is the size of the schools. I want my boys to have an opportunity to play in their sports of choice and I know the competition there will be huge. Not that I do not have confidence in them but we are from a much smaller school and I do'nt want them to be overwhelmed. What do you all think of the Sand Springs area? The most important thing to us is getting in the right place for the boys. I feel like Owasso will be like Broken Arrow and Jenks before my youngest makes it to high school as fast as it is growing! Thanks again!

[Tulsa73]

I have a friend who taught in Sand Springs and didn't have a great experience with living there or teaching there. Maybe it was just his bad luck. I haven't heard anything good or bad from that town, so I can't really comment too much.

[briansgi]

Owasso is a fast growing community, and has an excellent school system. My son graduated from Owasso two years ago, he took several AP classes from some wonderful teachers and is now at OSU with a 3.9GPA majoring in chemical engineering, so Owasso prepared him quite nicely for college.

Owasso has some wonderful neighborhoods east of town on one + acre lots with lots and lots of trees. Check out neighborhoods such as EastWood lake estates and Dover Pond just to name a couple:

http://www.mcgrawdavissonstewart.com...0705index.html
A OWASSO property at 9818 Cadbury Ridge Street by McGraw Davisson Stewart (broken link)

[cmoxzebra10]

i for one have really enjoyed living in claremore. i am a student at claremore hight school. and i have found that if you want your kids to have an opportunity in athletics they might actually enjoy this school. and i for one think its a really nice place to live aswell. i live just out side of town. and i have access to the city. and in the city limits i have found nice homes and there are alot of trees and other nice additions. We have a very nice historic down town. and we have many places where teenagers can hangout in a safe environment. we have two music venues in town. the tree and the king of clubs. the tree is a christian owned venue. and they play all sorts of music there. mostly local bands. and they have numerous adults there to supervise. as with the king of clubs they are owned by a good family. and its in claremore's downtown area. the city is also planning on putting in a skate park. supposibly its suposed to be better built and put together than owasso's skate park. but they still have yet to prove it to the local's. In the communities around claremore would also be an excellent choice. look into areas such as Inola and Oologah if you are looking into a smaller area with good access to the city. well besides that i hope you make your choice and have fun with the moving process!